Antivirus in the cloud: Is remote security remotely secure?

We've been excited by the prospect of offloading security into the cloud. But at the moment, advising casual netbook users to consider migrating to cloud-based security is weak advice at best. It's just too early.

But there's a future there for sure, assuming platforms such as Google's forthcoming Chrome OS don't succeed in becoming some kind of netbook standard. Panda's Cloud Antivirus convinced us a solid cloud-based security model can work for lightweight PCs. But it's always, without question, going to remain a prerequisite for peace of mind that a robust, redundant offline backup system remains ready to step in for when a network fails, or can't pipe sufficient bandwidth to you, or an infection tinkers with your Intertubes.

What do you think? Your thoughts and opinions are hereby encouraged in the comments below.

Further reading

We've created literally a number of cloud-computing guides, from an introduction to backing up your PC to the advantages of Web-based office apps -- it's all clouds, all the time. Check them all out here.